Growing Peachtree Adds Women & Fills Men's Draw

Peter Lauer
February 4 2012
Atlanta, GA

7th Annual Peachtree Inv. Expands to Add a 1ST Annual Women’s Event!

Sixteen teams from five states gathered in Atlanta on January 20th for the first ever Women’s Peachtree Invitational/NRT. Despite some freaky weather, the sold-out event went beautifully, ending in a storybook final between the 2nd seeded local team of Freddy Goldenberg and Sharon LeRoux, battling but losing to the veteran Pittsburgh team of Chris Ford (former National Champ and quasi-Atlanta native) and partner Karen Henke.

Freddy, who was also Tournament Chair and is Region VII PC Captain, remarked that “given the explosive growth of women’s paddle in Atlanta, we wanted to try an all women’s tournament as part of the Peachtree this year, and to our delight the response was terrific. We’ll do it again next year for sure. We also expect to field a full PC team on Long Island again this year, and I predict we’ll win more matches, especially with Sue Aery coaching us, as she has been this season!”

On the Men’s Side…Albrikes & Morneau def. O’Conner & Gareleck

A sold out draw of 32 teams from eight states competed on Saturday and Sunday for the 7th Men’s Peachtree Invitational/NRT title. Tournament Chair Peter Lauer remarked of the event, “We strive to be a great destination event for out-of-town players who enjoy both great competition and a highly sociable, first-class experience, accented with a Saturday night party, hosted by Freddy and Gregg Goldenberg, which rivals any and is in the fine tradition of paddle. Most striking to me, this year, is the vast skill improvement of our local competitors, who have by now been playing for a few years and are really getting it.”